AN EGYPTIAN BRONZE PANTHEISTIC DEITY

PTOLEMAIC PERIOD, CIRCA 332-30 B.C.

Details

AN EGYPTIAN BRONZE PANTHEISTIC DEITY
PTOLEMAIC PERIOD, CIRCA 332-30 B.C.
Depicted standing, wearing the double plumed crown of Osiris, combining the naked, pot-bellied body of Bes, with the frontally and backwards facing heads of a jackal and a ram, with a falcon tail behind, holding the remains of an attribute in his right hand, standing on two crocodiles, on integral rectangular base
7 ¼ in. (18.4 cm.) high

Provenance

Moise Levi de Benzion (1873–1943) collection.
Auction at the Villa Benzion, Zamalek, Cairo, 20 March 1947, possibly lot 450.
Streitz Velbonnet collection.

Exhibited

Munich, Staatliche Sammlung Ägypischer Kunst, Entdeckungen, Ägyptische Kunst in Süddeutschland, 30 August-6 October 1985.
Berlin, Ägyptisches Museum und Papyrussammlung; Berlin, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin; Munich, Staatliche Sammlung Ägyptischer Kunst Munchen; Hamburg, Museum für Kunst und Gewerbe Hamburg, Gott und Götter im Alten Ägypten, 1992-1993.

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Chanel Clarke

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Lot Essay

PUBLISHED:
Schoske & Wildung, 1985, p. 144, no. 124.
Schoske & Wildung, 1993, p. 180, no. 119.
Grimm-Stadelmann, 2012, p. 154, no. R-450.

Representations of pantheistic deities became very popular starting from the Ptolemaic Period. Combining different divine aspects, their magical function provided protection and support to the owner. For a similar pantheistic deity of Amun-Re see acc. no. 54.2083 in the Walters Art Museum, Baltimore.

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